409 - The Boyfriend Complexity
Aired November 18, 2010

Penny's dad is in town and Leonard is confused when Penny starts acting romantic with him. Penny asks Leonard to lie to her father and pretend they are still in a relationship. Meanwhile, Howard, Raj and Bernadette spend the night monitoring a telescope in the astrophysics lab, but the night takes an awkward turn when Raj starts drinking.

Episode Notes

The title refers to the complex situation Leonard found himself in, pretending to be Penny's boyfriend during her dad's visit to Pasadena.

Quotes (17)

Leonard: You'll never guess what just happened.Sheldon: You went out in the hallway, stumbled into an inter-dimensional portal, which brought you 5,000 years into the future, where you took advantage of the advanced technology to build a time machine, and now you're back, to bring us all with you to the year 7010, where we are transported to work at the think-a-torium by telepathically controlled flying dolphins? Leonard: Penny kissed me.Sheldon: Who would ever guess that?

Sheldon: I'd like to go over some proposed changes to the roommate agreement, specifically to address Penny's annoying personal habits.Penny: Oh my God! What personal habits?Sheldon: I have a list. FYI overuse of the phrase "Oh my God" is number 12.

Sheldon: I don't care for novelty editions of Monopoly. I prefer the classics: regular and Klingon.Howard: Actually, Indian Monopoly is just like regular. Except the money is in rupees and instead of hotels, you build call centers. And when you pick a chance card, you might die of dysentery. Just FYI, that was racist.

*Leonard is kissing Penny, and Penny's dad enters*Penny: Come on, honey, not in front of my dad.Penny's dad: Relax, I've seen her do a lot worse with a lot stupider.

News Stories

CBS has announced the details for the ninth episode of the season. Keith Carradine guest stars as Penny's dad. Full story

Recap

While the guys discuss who is the bravest person in the Marvel universe, the pizza delivery man calls to tell them the elevator is broken and he won't walk up the stairs. When Leonard goes out to get Penny, Penny's dad answers the door and realizes it's Leonard. Leonard wonders who the man is, until Penny explains it's her father, Wyatt. Penny calls Leonard "sweetie" and kisses him, then slams the door in his face, confusing Leonard. After Leonard returns to his apartment, he tells the guys about what just happened with Penny.

Penny comes over to Leonard's apartment to explain that she told her father they had got back together, since he was the first boyfriend her father approved of. Wyatt comes to the apartment and invites Leonard to join him and Penny for dinner. Elsewhere, Bernadette and Howard join Raj as they spend the night monitoring a telescope. Although Raj isn't best pleased, Howard brought Bernadette as he'd like his best friend and girlfriend to bond.

On their way back from dinner, Wyatt is telling stories to Leonard about Penny's ex-boyfriends. Leonard is pleased to hear her dad describe him as a keeper. When Sheldon observes Penny and Leonard kissing goodnight, Sheldon fears they are back together. Back at Raj's lab, they are playing Indian Monopoly when Bernadette and Raj start talking about how bad Howard's jokes are. They then proceed to make fun of Howard's mom. Back at the apartment, Sheldon wants Leonard to set up an escrow account to pay for Penny's expected infractions now they're back together. Penny is already having regretting telling this lie, but she and Leonard don't tell Sheldon they're not really a couple.

When Bernadette comforts a drunk Raj about his loneliness, he gets the wrong idea and tries to kiss her. Howard blocks this kiss, but ends up kissing Raj himself. Back at the apartment, Leonard and Wyatt are Wii fishing when Wyatt's cell phone rings. Penny has called to tell him the truth about her and Leonard. Later, Wyatt is yelling at Penny, telling her how upset he is that she lied to him. When Penny leaves the room, Wyatt begs Leonard to not give. up on Penny. He uses reverse psychology by yelling at Leonard to make Penny want him more.

When Leonard returns to the apartment, Sheldon has stayed up all night preparing an extended roommate agreement. Leonard tells Sheldon that they're not back together, causing Sheldon to throw the paperwork up in the air.

Comments (68)

Miguel , 01:10 Jan 24 2014.

I wonder what Sheldon did to not laugh when that paper got stuck on his head when he got mad at Leonard

TBBT fan w/ iq of 187 , 17:07 Jun 3 2013.

ALL of u should know Penny DOESNT have a last name.They dont say it.Look it up in Wikipedia

marie , 19:56 Dec 20 2012.

what's Penny' last name?

steve , 23:03 Feb 6 2012.

Is there a transcript somewhere?
Did Leonard call Penny's dad by his last name?
I have spent the last 3 hours trying to find Penny's last name!!

pre.sy , 00:54 Apr 14 2011.

lol....raj and howard made out...

Mariana , 18:09 Mar 12 2011.

L O V E D IT! I just can't get enough of this serie. (@araujo_nana)

Administrator, 10:38 Dec 5 2010.

@magooglie, Penny was absent from two episodes as the actress Kaley Cuoco had injured herself in a horseback riding accident.

magooglie , 07:30 Dec 5 2010.

Why was Penny missing from the episode shown this week in Ireland?

TBBT Fan , 14:29 Dec 1 2010.

This episode rocked......Leonard and Penny and Howard and Raj!!!!! Just so amazing!

luis , 18:32 Nov 25 2010.

each episode is more like FRIENDS, just my opinion with much entanglement between Penny and Leonard, I hope this has a good finish by the end of the season, the series is spectacular and has many hilarious moments that do not lose hope course ...